From Cricut

My sweet Mom surprised me last summer with a Cricut Explore! I haven’t done much paper crafting in the past, but I’ve found tons of uses for my Cricut from wood blocks, to iron on vinyl, to making the templates for my English paper piecing! It took me a while to work out how to get the right size/shape templates, so I wanted to write up a tutorial for anyone else who would like to do this! I include directions for hexagons, diamonds, squares, pentagons, and octagons below!

– Hexagon Tutorial –

Note: You will need a Cricut that interfaces with the online Cricut Design Studio- not one of the older models with the cartridges. If you have an older model that uses Cricut Craft Studio program, I made a similar guide which you can find here! (Note: You can only make hexagon, squares, and diamonds in this program. Also the holes cannot be added- but you can add them with a hole punch after!)

Tip: You can click on the images to open them in a new window for a closer view!

Open the Cricut Design Studio & start a new project.

Click “Insert Shapes” and select a hexagon.

I like to add a hole in my templates for easy template removal. To do this, Click “Insert Shapes” again and select the circle. Click on the circle to adjust your circle size. I usually make mine around 0.4in.

Click and drag your circle to the middle of your hexagon.

Select the circle then hold the “Shift” key and select the hexagon. Click on the “Layers” tab in the sidebar and then click “Slice”. This cuts the circle out of your hexagon for you.

Select the circle in the middle and press delete on your keyboard. Select the circle and click delete a second time. You are now left with your hexagon template!

Select your hexagon and click “Copy” then “Paste” until you have your desired amount of hexagons. No need to organize them in this view, Cricut will move them automatically when you go to cut.

When you are ready to cut, click “Cut” and follow the Cricut directions for making your cut. I like to use office supply cardstock for my templates. For mine, I set my Cricut halfway between “Light Cardstock” and “Cardstock”. Cut out your shapes and remove from your Cricut mat! You are all finished!

– Diamond Tutorial –

Follow the same steps as above, but inserting a diamond instead of a hexagon.

Click on the diamond and click “edit”. Then, click on the lock symbol next to the sizes. This will allow you to change the diamond proportions.

Use the size tables below to determine the right width & height for the size & shape diamonds you want!

– Square Tutorial –

Follow the same directions as hexagons but choose square.

For the size, use the side length you want for both the width and height.

– Pentagon Tutorial –

Follow the same steps as above, but inserting a pentagon instead of a hexagon.

Then use the size tables below to determine the right height. The width will update automatically!

– Octagon Tutorial –

Follow the same steps as above, but inserting a octagon instead of a hexagon.

Then use the size tables below to determine the right width. The height will update automatically!

I’m kind of addicted to craft swaps… no really- I have participated in 21 so far with my first one being back in 2005! And I still have 2 more in progress! Most of my swaps have been through Craftster- including my latest swap finish for the “Craft with a Fat Quarter” swap! In this swap, we were challenged to make items for our partner using only 2 fat quarters! It was such a fun challenge to figure out how to fit the projects using such a limited fabric! I wanted to share what I made for my partner today. My partner loved this Bonnie & Camille strawberry fabric, so I went with that and a coordinating red fabric. The two fabrics in the corner are the 2 fat quarters I sent with the package for her to use. My partner had tons of great inspiration pinned, so I used those and lots of tutorials to make these items!

One of the items she had pinned was a thread catcher, so I decided to make this my biggest project. The pin cushion was a simple rectangle with a loop for the basket attachment. I weighted it down with door hinges wrapped in foam batting so that it wouldn’t slip and then stuffed it with polyfill. For the basket, I started with the thread catcher tutorial from The Sewing Chick & modified it to fit my needs. You can find the tutorial for my version Here! I used foam batting on the basket to add structure so the basket could stand up and be used on its own. I also added a button so that it could be attached to the pin cushion to hang off of the table.

My next largest project was a checkbook cover which my partner had pinned as well. I used the tutorial from Small Fry & Co for this. I used some cute coordinating heart ribbon for the page holder and thin elastic for the button closure.

I also made a little sweet pencil pouch from the tutorial at A Spoonful of Sugar. However, I made the outer from 1 piece instead of a patchwork. I used my Cricut to add a doily edging along the zipper with heat apply vinyl (free doily .svg courtesy of Bird’s Cards). I finished it off by adding a little strawberry charm on the zipper!

At this point, I was getting down to some smaller scraps! Since she liked organizing, I decided to make her a charm square fabric tray (tutorial also from A Spoonful of Sugar! Can you tell I adore her work? I love these for holding little items in my sewing space to keep things more organized!

My project using the least fabric was the non-slip sewing pedal pad! I was inspired by the tutorial on So Sew Easy, but I had to adjust it because of my fabric constraints. The bottom of the pad was made from 2 layers of non-slip material, quilted in star to keep the layers together. I then used a 1in wide strip of fabric to bind the edges! I added the front padded stop & added little pieces of ribbon on the edges since my fabric wasn’t quite wide enough!

My smallest project was a little hexie key chain. I embroidered the strawberries & used the heart ribbon to make a loop for the key chain. These are so simple and quick!

This swap definitely challenged my planning skills. I have to say, a lot of graph paper & excel was used in this swap!! But in the end, I was surprised how many projects I could make with just 2 fat quarters! Now to move on to the projects for my 2 swaps in progress!